Rilke is one of the most widely read poets of the 20th century. In his poetry, Rilke addresses the problems of death, God, and "destructive time," and attempts to overcome and transform these problems into an indestructive inner world.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more |
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"I have always found the Elegies hard to compare or even read with our own best poems.... Because of Mr. Poulin's translation, I experience the Elegies almost as English. He gives Rilke the crisp speed of English, and yet seems to remain very close to the original meaning." -- Robert Lowell
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
great theorist of the free market believed in Providence. "The happiness of
mankind," Smith wrote, "seems to have been the original purpose intended by
the Author of nature." The workings of the Lord could be found not in the
pages of a holy book, nor in miracles, but in the daily, mundane buying-and-
selling of the marketplace. Each purchase might be driven by an individual
desire, but behind them all lay "the invisible hand" of the Divine. This invisible
hand set prices and wages. It determined supply and demand. It represented
the sum of all human wishes. Without relying on any conscious intervention
by man, the free market improved agriculture and industry, created surplus
wealth, and made sure that the things being produced were the things people
wanted to buy. Human beings lacked the wisdom, Smith felt, to improve
society deliberately or to achieve Progress through some elaborate plan. But
if every man pursued his own self-interest and obeyed only his "passions,"
the invisible hand would guarantee that everybody else benefited, too.
Published in 1776, The Wealth of Nations later had a profound
effect upon the nation born that year. The idea that "life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness" were unalienable rights, endowed by a Creator, fit
perfectly with the economic theories of Adam Smith. "Life, liberty and estate"
was the well-known phrase that Thomas Jefferson amended slightly for the
Declaration of Independence. The United States was the first country to
discard feudal and aristocratic traditions and replace them with a republican
devotion to marketplace ideals. More than two centuries later, America"s
leading companies—General Motors, General Electric, ExxonMobil,
Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Boeing, et al.—have annual revenues larger than those
of many sovereign states. No currency is more powerful than the U.S. dollar,
and the closing prices on Wall Street guide the financial markets of Tokyo,
London, Paris, and Frankfurt. The unsurpassed wealth of the United States
has enabled it to build a military without rival. And yet there is more to the
U.S. economy, much more, than meets the eye. In addition to America"s
famous corporations and brands, the invisible hand has also produced a
largely invisible economy, secretive and well hidden, with its own labor
demand, price structure, and set of commodities.
"Black," "shadow," "irregular," "informal," "illegal," "subterranean," "u
mankind," Smith wrote, "seems to have been the original purpose intended by
the Author of nature." The workings of the Lord could be found not in the
pages of a holy book, nor in miracles, but in the daily, mundane buying-and-
selling of the marketplace. Each purchase might be driven by an individual
desire, but behind them all lay "the invisible hand" of the Divine. This invisible
hand set prices and wages. It determined supply and demand. It represented
the sum of all human wishes. Without relying on any conscious intervention
by man, the free market improved agriculture and industry, created surplus
wealth, and made sure that the things being produced were the things people
wanted to buy. Human beings lacked the wisdom, Smith felt, to improve
society deliberately or to achieve Progress through some elaborate plan. But
if every man pursued his own self-interest and obeyed only his "passions,"
the invisible hand would guarantee that everybody else benefited, too.
Published in 1776, The Wealth of Nations later had a profound
effect upon the nation born that year. The idea that "life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness" were unalienable rights, endowed by a Creator, fit
perfectly with the economic theories of Adam Smith. "Life, liberty and estate"
was the well-known phrase that Thomas Jefferson amended slightly for the
Declaration of Independence. The United States was the first country to
discard feudal and aristocratic traditions and replace them with a republican
devotion to marketplace ideals. More than two centuries later, America"s
leading companies—General Motors, General Electric, ExxonMobil,
Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Boeing, et al.—have annual revenues larger than those
of many sovereign states. No currency is more powerful than the U.S. dollar,
and the closing prices on Wall Street guide the financial markets of Tokyo,
London, Paris, and Frankfurt. The unsurpassed wealth of the United States
has enabled it to build a military without rival. And yet there is more to the
U.S. economy, much more, than meets the eye. In addition to America"s
famous corporations and brands, the invisible hand has also produced a
largely invisible economy, secretive and well hidden, with its own labor
demand, price structure, and set of commodities.
"Black," "shadow," "irregular," "informal," "illegal," "subterranean," "u
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Rilke that reads as if Rilke wrote in English,
By T. Sanchez "writer, editor, voracious reader" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus (Paperback)
I've found other translations of Rilke obtuse, frustratingly difficult to get the first layer of sense out of, let alone the multiple layers and connections going all the way down. Poulin's translation renders Rilke crisply, briskly musical, urgent, hallucinatory, and true. I read these words in this order and they succeed in completely breaking me open. Which I count as a poetic success.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Duino Elegies,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus (Paperback)
Tops! This translation of Rilke is regarded by many of us as the best.
'Nuff said. :)
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
And if I cried, who'd listen to me in those angelic orders? Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Duineser Elegien, Duino Elegies New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
And if I cried, who'd listen to me in those angelic orders? Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Duineser Elegien, Duino Elegies New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 5
books:
41
books
cite this book:
See all 41 books citing this book
- Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke on 4 pages
- Sonnets to Orpheus: Bilingual Edition by Rainer Maria Rilke on 4 pages
- Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke in Front Matter
- Stephen Spender: A Portrait with Background by Hugh David in Front Matter
- Contemporary American Poetry (7th edition, 2000) by A. Poulin in Front Matter
- On the Way to the Wedding: Transforming the Love Relationship by Linda Schierse Leonard on page 198, page 217, and page 247
- The Unfinished Manner: Essays on the Fragment in the Later Eighteenth Century by Elizabeth Wanning Harries in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation by William H. Gass in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Duino Elegies and the Sonnets of Orpheus (German Edition) by Rainer Maria Rilke in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Bestiary: An Anthology of Poems about Animals by Stephen Mitchell in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
See all 41 books citing this book
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
|
|
